


Automatonophobia

by tiny_anais



Category: jacksepticeye, markiplier - Fandom
Genre: Automatonophobia, Cute, Fear, Fluff, M/M, Septiplier - Freeform, possible trigger, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-28
Updated: 2015-12-07
Packaged: 2018-04-28 14:19:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5093870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiny_anais/pseuds/tiny_anais
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mark gets lost while trying to follow Jack and he ends up in a nightmarish situation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Fall

**Author's Note:**

> It took me a lot of time to bring myself to post this one because I found nobody to proof/beat read it, so I hope it's not too bad...  
> It's only the first chapter, I might write more if a lot of people like it. =)  
> (As always I'm French so pardon my possible bad writing/grammar ^^" )

Mark had literally no idea how he'd gotten here.  
He was wandering in the mall, trying to follow Jack, the Irishman running around in the building like a kid who'd never been in a mall before. Sure it was a big place, and everything was decorated for Halloween, but Mark grew a bit tired of trying to run after his child of a friend who seemed to never run out of energy, and ended up checking his phone, not really paying attention to where he was going.

Next thing he knew, he was locked in a dark room that looked like a storage room.  
He had tripped over a box and before he could get up the door had locked behind him, and it couldn't be opened from inside. Mark sighed loudly, trying to get up. He went to the door and banged on it to call for somebody. 

But even after several long minutes, nobody came to let him out. He took his phone out to call Jack but of course, the device was running out of battery and the poor thing died on him.  
“Just perfect.” Mark mumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. Why did he have to play that stupid game for so long today?  
He sighed again, and turned around to look at the room. It was dark but there was just enough light for Mark's blood to freeze in his veins and for his heart to skip a beat when he discovered that that storage room was probably the one of a clothes shop.

Mannequins.

Mannequins where stored everywhere. Against the walls, standing in the middle of the room, laying on the floor. Male and female. Some where headless, some missed an arm or a foot.  
But the creepiest ones were the children-like mannequins standing near him. They were all a ghostly white, and their featureless faces seemed like there were staring directly at Mark. 

Mark's breathing sped up and he could feel a cold sweat run down the back of his neck. 

“No, no no no no no” He cried out, trying to step back toward the door, but he tripped over one of the dummy's arm that was lying around and he cursed loudly as some of the horrible mannequins followed him in his fall.  
It's when a head came rolling before his face and stopped less than an inch away from his nose that Mark freaked out for good. He writhed and tried to get up, tears almost filling his eyes and when he finally was on his two legs again he staggered towards the door and banged on it as hard as he could.

Meanwhile, Jack was still running around, going from a shop to another, barely stopping to look at what was in the windows. He was so amazed and excited and sure that Mark was still following him somehow that he didn't realize his friend wasn't after him anymore. 

After nearly half an hour, his voice broken and his fists almost bloody from hitting the door so hard and for so long, Mark was sitting against the wall next to the door, his arms circling his knees and his face hiding between them. His shoulders were shaking and he was whimpering softly as he tried not to think about the ugly monsters his brain was changing the mannequins into, like in some of the games he used to play. His mind was tricking him into feeling touches and presences that weren't real and it made him jump a few times. 

 

He had lost track of the time he spent in the room, but finally, after what felt like an eternity, the door creaked open.

“Mark? Are you in here?” a strong accent called for his name, and Mark's heart jumped in his chest. 

He lifted his head, his eyes red and his cheeks damp from the tears. He looked like a frightened child. 

“Mark! I've looked for you everywhere for hours! What are you doing in here?”  
“JACK” Mark all but cried out, jumping on his feet and hugging the Irishman tight.  
“Man, you've been lost for almost three hours!” Jack said, awkwardly hugging his friend back. “You didn't pick up your phone so I had to ask a security person to help me find you! And you're lucky a lady who works in the next shop heard you scream and came to find her boss! She thought you were a ghost!” Jack chuckled slightly. “Anyway, how did you even get locked in here?”  
“I-I don't know, I...” Mark tried to talk, but he was still trembling and in shock. He glanced at the dozen of mannequins from the corner of his eyes. Their arms looked like they were outstretched to reach him. “Please, I just want to get out of here...” he said, grabbing Jack's sleeve tightly and motioning him to walk away as far from the room as possible.  
“Alright, alright. The building is about to close anyway.”

In the car Mark was silent, his hands holding the steering wheel tightly. His knuckles were white, and Jack realized the side of one of his hand was actually scratched and bleeding a little bit. He looked at him with concern, especially after they almost ran over a pedestrian and drove so close to the sidewalk the car almost climbed on it. 

 

When they arrived at Mark's apartment the American went straight to the bathroom, splashing his face with cold water. He stayed here a few minutes, his shaking hands gripping the edges of the sink.  
Jack's head popped through the door.  
“You okay Mark?” he asked with worry in his voice.

Mark jumped when he heard the voice behind him.  
“Huh yeah, yeah I'm good. Sorry I made you worry earlier. You're only spending a week here, you got other things to do than playing hide and seek, right?”  
“It's fine! Happens to anybody to get lost. But maybe you should take care of that...?” Jack said, pointing at Mark's hand.  
“Oh, yeah you're right...” the older said, hissing when trying to close his fist. Now that he was a little more calm he could actually feel a bit of pain.

Mark looked around for a band-air or anything to take care of his hand but all he could find was a full roll of strip of cloth and shrugged. He tried to wrap his injured hand with it but he was still trembling slightly and half of the band ended up on the floor.  
“You're hopeless” Jack chuckled. “Leave it to me you big doof.” 

The Irishman put the strip aside and used the bottle of alcohol that was resting on the edge of the sink to clean the scratch, and then proceeded to wrap Mark's hand as carefully as possible. Mark blushed slightly, glad that Jack was so focused on taking care of him that he couldn't notice. 

In a way, Jack's hand on his felt good, and almost soothing. He felt his body starting to relax, and before he could realize Jack was done.  
“There you go, you big baby.” The younger said, letting go of his hand. Want me to kiss it better too?”  
Mark looked at his hand then up at Jack, and smiled a bit awkwardly. 

“Thanks,” He said softly. “It's perfect.”


	2. Down and down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark is falling deeper.

But what Mark didn't know was that it wasn't perfect at all. ****

 

The man went to sleep normally that night, like he did every night. Him and Jack played some video games and recorded some videos to put on both their channel, and Mark went in his bedroom while Jack went to the spare room.

It took what Mark felt like hours to finally fall asleep, tossing and turning in his bed, feeling ghostly touches all over his body and non-existent eyes observing him in the darkness.   
Exhaustion took the best of himself and he slept a restless sleep, full of nightmares of pale mannequins each one more horrifying than the other, with melting faces and bloody wooden arms chasing after him.  
  


He jerked awake suddenly in the middle of the night, sitting straight in his bed. He was sweaty, his body feeling like it was burning and his heart was pounding in his chest. He sighed, rubbing his face with his hand and tried to calm himself. He then turned to check the hour on his phone: He had barely slept for two hours. He sighed again and got up, heading toward the bathroom as quietly as he could so to not wake his friend up and poured cold water on his hands, splashing his face and neck to try and calm the burning sensation. He drank a bit and went back to bed.   
  


Once again Mark tried to sleep but after one long hour he still hadn't managed to drift away so he just kicked his blanket off and walked slowly to the kitchen to make coffee, before dropping on his chair at his desk.  
  
When Jack woke up early in the morning, he went to check if Mark was still sleeping, but found his bed empty. He scratched his head and looked in the bathroom, the kitchen and the living room and was surprised to see him in his office, in his pajama pants with his headphones on, coffee in hand watching weird videos on youtube.   
The Irishman stepped inside the room and gently tapped Mark's shoulder, the American gasping and jumping from surprise. He removed his headphones and turned toward his friend to say “Good Morning”, and it was Jack's turn to gasp.  
Mark was all dissheveled and a greyish black was circling his eyes, which looked exhausted.   
  


“How long have you been awake?” Jack asked. “Did you even sleep at all??”

“I tried.” Mark sighed, sipping what probably was his fifteenth coffee. “I.. I had a bad dream and I couldn't sleep, so I came here.”  
“Is everything alright? Something bugging you?”  
Mark frowned. If he told Jack the cause of his insomnia, the Irishman would probably laugh at him.  
“No, it's nothing. I guess it just happens sometimes. I'll sleep better tonight.”  
“If you don't fall from exhaustion in the middle of the afternoon.” Jack chuckled, walking to the bathroom to take a shower. “If you're too tired we can just stay inside today. I don't mind.”  
“You're my guest, we'll do what you want.” Mark said with a big yawn.

 

So they did and they just spent the day playing video games on the couch. Jack only had three more days to spend in Los Angeles before he had to go back to Ireland, but playing video games with Mark was one of his favorite thing to do and he absolutely didn't regret not doing anything else.  
Mark did doze a couple of times, always jolting awake after a few minutes, his hands gripping either the controller or the armrest of the couch. Jack looked suspiciously at him but didn't say anything.

When they finally had to go to sleep, Mark fell on his bed and hardly had the time to slip under his comforter and fell asleep rather quickly, and he hoped he would finally have a good rest.  
  
But his mind had other plans.

 

Here he was, in pitch darkness, his back pressed against an invisible wall as a hundread, a thousand mannequins were slowly walking toward him, their arms or what was remaining of their limbs reaching for him. He could almost feel their ghostly presence on his skin and it made his stomach churn.  
  
It's right when one of the cold wooden hand touched him that he jolted awake, sitting straight in his bed. He was panting and sweating and his body was burning. Suddenly the room started to spin and he stumbled out of his bed and ran to the bathroom, bumping into the walls and he knelt in front of the toilet and threw up, tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

He was panting and coughing when he heard the door to Jack's door open. The Irishman barely had the time to ask what was going on that Mark kicked the door close, making Jack jump in surprise.

 

After throwing up most of what was in his stomach Mark cleaned his mouth and face and came out of the bathroom. He didn't see that Jack was sitting on the floor next to the door and jumped when he eard him talk  
  
“What's going on Mark? Are you alright?” Jack asked with worry in his voice.   
“I'm okay Jack” Mark sighed in exasperation due to lack of sleep. “Please go back to bed.”

“Are you sure? Your face is all pale and you-”  
“I SAID GO BACK TO SLEEP JACK!” Mark all but barked at the younger.

 

Jack started at his friend's sudden outburst, then frowned and went back into the spare room. He closed the door quietly, and it had a worse impact on the American than if he had slammed it in full force. Mark shuddered as he felt like his heart had sunken in his chest, and sighed as he put his face in his hands.

Jack's gorgeous blue eyes that usually reminded Mark of a nice summer sky suddenly became as cold as a frozen lake, and Mark could almost feel the air cooling around him. He immediately regreted yelling at him, but he was too exhausted to do anything and just went into the living room, dropping on the couch and just watched some cartoon randomly chosen on Netflix   
  


 

Jack woke up the next morning. He didn't sleep very well and groaned when the sun started to peek through the curtains of his room.  
He got up and walked slowly toward the living room, where he found Mark half laying on the sofa.   
When he heard him the American turned toward him and said a weak “ 'morning” with a raspy voice.

“Morning.” Jack answered, not really knowing what to do or say.  
Mark sat up and rubbed his eyes and the back of his neck awkwardly, clearing his throat.  
“Hum.. Look Jack, I...” he started, glancing at his friend. “I'm sorry for last night, I... I shouldn't have yelled at you...”  
  
He looked up at Jack, waiting for his answer, and the knot in his stomach untied when he saw Jack's face lit up as he smiled gently, and the beautiful summer sky replaced the ice cold blue in his eyes.

  
“It's alright.” Jack said as he sat next to his friend. He grinned and gave him a side hug. Mark started slightly, feeling electricity run in his body, but just thought it was from the lack of sleep. He chuckled and yawned.

  
Mark didn't want Jack to spend his last days locked inside his apartment, so they went out and Mark showed him the city. Mark still felt tired but he liked seing his friend so excited and happy at everything he saw. The only moment he felt uneasy was when they were walking past a cloth shop. The American gritted his teeth and his hand grabbed Jack's sleeve almost on its own accord, as if looking for comfort in Jack, and he mentaly thanked him for being okay with it.

 

When they came back in the beginning of the evening Mark was exhausted, and Jack offered that they ordered food so they wouldn't have to bother with preparing dinner.  
So they spent the evening sitting on the sofa watching Netflix and eating pizza. Jack could see Mark dozing a few times, and was a bit afraid of telling him to go to sleep after what happened the night before. But suddenly after a while he felt something pressing against his shoulder and he jumped a little, and he turned toward Mark to see that the American had his head gently resting against his shoulder.   
Aparently exhaustion got the better of him and Jack could hear a faint snoring from his friend. His chest was raising and falling slowly and Jack smiled looking at how peaceful his face looked despite the black circle under his eyes, and how cute he was when he was sleeping.  
Jack blinked at that last thought flashing in his mind and shook his head, thinking that he was just becoming sleepy too.   
Jack knew that the peaceful instant probably wouldn't last though, and Mark would jolt awake all trembling and panting. The Irishman got ready to comfort him from yet another nightmare, glancing at him every once in a while while still watching the show they had put on earlier. But Mark was still sleeping soundly, and Jack didn't dare move except to grab the blanket resting on the top of the couch and threw it over them, careful to cover Mark's body properly. He focused back on the show, and after a while he ended up falling asleep too.

 

 

When Jack opened his eyes, bothered by a ray of sunshine peeking through the window, he looked around and tried to get up from the weird position he was in and when he turned toward the other end of the couch a smile stretched his lips.   
Mark was laying on him with his cheek resting against Jack's belly, snoring lightly and one of his arm was dangling from the sofa. They must have moved in their sleep because the blanket was all over the place half covering both of them, and Jack couldn't help but gently stroke the pink floof on top of Mark's head.

But he quickly removed his hand when he heard Mark grunting and move slowly, and he blushed slightly, hoping that he wouldn't notice.

The American lifted his head and looked at Jack right in the eyes, his own look still cloudy and sleepy. It made Jack blush even more, and when Mark realized where he was he freaked out.  
  


“J-Jack, I'm sorry I-” he stuttered as he tried to get up, but he got tangled in the blanket, his hand slipped from the couch and he fell on the floor with a loud thud, and Jack thought for a second that he had banged his head against the coffee table.  
The younger quickly knelt next to him and helped him straighten up.  
  


“Oh my god, Mark, are you alright?” He asked, cupping the older's face once he was sitting, checking for any bruise or bump on his head.  
When he felt the soft hands on his face Mark felt warmth run through his body and his heart skipped a beat, his breath got caught up in his chest as he felt like drowning in the deep blue of the eyes looking at him with concern. He swallowed the lump in his throat and got up awkwardly, rubbing his face. Jack followed, and he gasped.  
  
“Mark!” he called, grabbing the older's shirt, scaring him as he was stretching.  
“What? Why are you yelling so early in the morning?” Mark yawned. A wide grin appeared on Jack's face.

 

“You've slept the whole night!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not exactly happy with this chapter by my nice beta-reader said it was great so I trust her...  
> (Once again excuse the little Frenchie that I am for any grammar error ;w; )  
> Please tell me what you think! Kudos and comments are always nice =D  
> Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> So like I said, though it could end here I was thinking about writing more, so please tell me if you liked it and if I should continue. Thanks!


End file.
